Remember September
by Akkita
Summary: Alessa Dearing is transported back ten years to the terrorist attacks of 09/11/01. After witnessing firsthand some of the pain, she was transported again to the White House, where she met a Country in considerable pain.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia, only my story and characters. This story is also posted to my Wattpad! THE ORIGINAL POSTING HAD ALL SORTS OF CODE MESS IN IT SO I FIXED IT! SO VERY SORRY!

It was September 11th, 2011. That was the day I was sent back in time ten years, to New York, then to Washington DC.

Somehow, I appeared there at that time. Screams erupted from side streets and buildings and alleyways, I looked to the sky as the second plate hit one of the Twin Towers. I watched as people jumped from the burning, collapsing buildings. My breath left me in that moment as I ran the opposite direction, I was too close, at this distance I'd be caught in the debris.

I slowly faded away, which led me to believe I had simply dreamed up all of this. After all, we were in remembrance today, since it was ten years after. But no, I simply reappeared in what I discovered to be the White House, where pained screams could be heard from the room to my right. The hallway I was in had an eerie feeling about it - no secret service agents...no...anyone really. In fact, the whole place looked kept up, but untouched for years. I knocked twice on the door the screaming was behind before entering, I didn't know what to expect.

Blood.

"AAHHHH!" screamed the man on the floor. He was covered in blood, curled up in a ball, wounds seemed to just be appearing on him. A pair of glasses lay broken on the floor next to the bed and papers strewn about the room gave me an odd, uneasy feeling.

I ran to the man's side, no idea what I was going to do, and grabbed his trembling hand. When I saw his face, I realized who this was: Alfred F. Jones. And the date, 09/11/2001. So this is what happened to him.

I took a shaky breath has his hand clenched mine, I lightly ran my other hand through his sweat drenched hair, "Breathe, America, breathe." I said softly, "I don't know how to help you, but I promise it is almost over." I had remembered the second plane, Alfred had been hurting for quite awhile with no one around.

"Who are-" he managed before screaming in pain once more.

"Don't speak. I'm an American. I promise I'll explain a lot more once this is over."

"You promise a lot." he whispered.

"But I keep my promises, I assure you." I smiled gently to him as his eyes slid closed. He slipped into unconsciousness. I picked him up, as best I could, and laid him on the bed that was in the room. His shirt was soaked with blood, I took it off and saw how many scars he had. Hetalia always made history funny and light hearted...but...the truth is that it's actually painful and deep cutting.

I found the bathroom and grabbed a towel off a shelf and ran hot water over it. I walked back into the room and started dabbing the blood off of his muscular chest which was laced with barely visible scars - all the time having a pain in my heart I can only describe as pity.

He barely woke up, just to start breathing quickly and uttering "I need to save New York." and "New York needs me." repeatedly until he fell asleep again. I gave his limp hand a squeeze and rinsed the rag out again and continued cleaning his wounds. He would need stitches, it looked like. I didn't know how to do that so I settled for just trying to get the bleeding under control first. Which was hard, and I was in way over my head. I needed to call 911 and get him to a hospital or something...but he isn't exactly human so I don't know how that would work. There was a phone on the table, I did all I could think of to do. Call England.

I picked up the phone, but then realized I didn't exactly have England's number. I looked through the drawers of the nightstand the phone was on and amongst the burger wrappers I found a notebook that said "address book" I opened it only to find that he uses different names for everyone. I figured, "Iggy Eyebrows" was Arthur. I quickly dialed the number and waited, it rang once and then I heard a panicked Arthur on the other end asking "Are you okay?"

I responded, "England? He's out cold. You need to get over here quick….."

"Who are you? What are you doing calling on America's phone?" he yelled angrily.

"I'll explain later, just get over here! He's losing a lot of blood….can I take him to the hospital or call some paramedics?" I asked, worry covering my voice.

A pause came from the other line, "He's bleeding?"

"Yeah, he's got deep cuts and stuff everywhere. Every time I clean one wound, another starts bleeding again. I don't know what to do…"

"Just wait a few minutes, I'll be right there."

"Please hurry."

Once he hung up, I did to and went back to Alfred's side. I ran my hand through his sweaty hair as he began to wake up again. "I need to get to New York."

"You need to rest and heal, England is on his way to help. I'm sure he can handle things."

"How did…"

"Iggy Eyebrows isn't the best code name."

"You went…"

"You're in rough shape, I had to do something. Now hush up, before you make this worse." I ran my hand down to his cheek and rubbed my thumb under his eye, "It'll be alright."

He left consciousness again, this time looking a little more relaxed, but pale. I knew he'd lost way too much blood. I hoped England would appear soon.

As if my thoughts were read, a transmutation looking circle appeared and began to glow. Soon, Arthur appeared with a medical kit.

"Just keep out of the way." he ordered. I nodded and stepped away.

After some time, I just sat in a corner and watched England work on America with worry and stress visible on his face. He was muttering things to himself, I couldn't hear any of it. Alfred woke once during this, to begin talking about New York. Arthur told him he saw it on the news and that the other countries were doing all that they could to help. That seemed to relax him enough to fall back asleep again and let Arthur work.

"Okay." he finally said, "I'm done."

I stood, "You alright?"

"I'll be fine." he responded hastily. "I'm worried about him."

"He will live."

"How are you sure?"

"Long story."

"I've got time."

"Needs imagination."

"I've got plenty, I've been told."

"Alright then." I told him everything that happened, what time I was from, what I saw when I was in New York, how I even got to New York, how I appeared here, heard Alfred and came in and helped, everything. He took it in and thought over it for several minutes, during that time I held Alfred's hand and looked worriedly over him. His paled bare chest that was covered in stitches and gauze barely moved with each shaky breath he took.

Arthur finally replied. "I've never heard of that happening before...but I believe you. Thank you for helping him the best you could, it means a lot to me." he didn't look at me, only Alfred. His gaze never left the broken country.

"It was nothing, anyone would have done the same." I shook my head lightly, "What's it like? When your people hurt?"

"What?" he looked at me questioningly.

I clarified, "As a country."

"Oh." he sighed, "You feel all of their pain, in fact, we are constantly hurting somewhere by the deaths of our people. As we get older, we learn to deal with it and it becomes a part of us."

"I'm sorry." I looked from him back to Alfred, who had twitched a little.

"Why?" he asked, looking at Alfred as well.

"You guys go through so much, yet no one really knows you exist." I sighed out, "It just sounds…painful….depressing….you guys deserve so much more than you have."

"We make it just fine, though. It's who we are, we know nothing different." he responded. "You should go wash up, you've got blood all over you."

"You do too, Arthur." I stood anyway, "I'll be back shortly. Let me know of he wakes up."

"Certainly." he placed a hand on Alfred's forehead to (I assume) take his temperature.

I walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, I had blood on my face, my arms, hands, shirt, pretty much everywhere. I washed my body and put my clothes back on when was done and went back to Arthur. "You should clean up, as well."

"Indeed." he replied quietly.

"I'll let you know if he wakes up, alright?" I smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "You should probably get some sleep, too. You look tired."

"I'll clean up, but I want to stay awake for when he wakes up." he replied, looking up at me. I removed my hand from his shoulder and he got up and walked into the bathroom.

I grabbed Alfred's hand and picked it up to my face, placing it against my cheek. "You better wake up soon, or your old man will die from sleep exhaustion."

I felt his hand twitch and at first I thought it was him dreaming or just twitching in general. But I then realized that he was waking up. Just as I was about to yell for Arthur, he came out of the bathroom. "Arthur, he's waking up." I said as he briskly walked over.

"Oi, burger brain, wake up already." he demanded in an annoyed tone.

"Arthur I don't think that is helping." I snapped. "Alfred, listen, you need to open your eyes for us, okay? We want to make sure you're alright."

"I heard something about burgers…" Alfred finally whispered, "What was it?"

"Arthur calling you a burger brain." I responded. Arthur gave me a warning look that I returned. "Do you feel any better?"

"My abs hurt."

"You were pretty bad, America." Arthur said. "You had me worried."

"Ah, don't worry about me, old man." Alfred smiled just barely, "I'm the hero."

"Yeah, Al, you are." I said sweetly. He tightened his grip on my hand.

"Old?" Arthur seethed, "I'm old? Me?"

Alfred opened his eyes, "Everything's blurry."

"Your glasses are broken." I responded. "Do you have an extra pair?"

"Top dresser drawer."

And so the day went on like that, Arthur and Alfred having at it and me in the crossfire interjecting at times. Al healed quickly, and soon became angry. He slammed his fist into his mattress a few times swearing that tired make the people who did this pay. I knew where that would lead, but I kept quiet. History must take its course. Arthur told Alfred to sit back a few times, worried that he'd bust a stitch and start losing blood again, which he could not afford to do. It was then that Al noticed all the blood on his bed.

"Is...all that mine?" he asked, quietly.

"Yes." Arthur and I replied in unison.

He stared at it for awhile before laying back, stating that he was going to rest up so he could be the 'hero' and get revenge for this catastrophe. I, however, thought he was merely uneasy with the amount of blood that he bled. The look on Arthur's face told me that I wasn't the only one thinking that.

"You should get some sleep too, Arthur." I said, stretching out.

"As should you." he agreed.

"There another bed around here?"

"Only one."

"Oh, that's jolly good."

"Do me a favor."

"Hmn?"

"Don't speak British phrases."

"Aye-aye-captain." The glare I received was bone chilling, but I smiled anyway and followed Arthur to the "guest" room.

"I'll sleep on the floor." he mumbled.

"No," I responded, "Under or over the covers?"

"Um, over." he looked at me oddly and I shrugged. There was no sense in him sleeping on the floor, this was a king sized bed...it had plenty of room.

"Okay, then." was about to get in the bed when I stopped, thinking about my bloody clothes. "Well, fiddle sticks. My clothes...and yours too."

"Bloody heck." he cursed, "You're right. After has to have something around her we could wear…" he began searching the drawers, finding a large shirt that I decided to use as a nightgown, and a pair of sweatpants he decided to wear as pajama pants. We changed clothes, me in the bathroom him in the bedroom, and then got into the bed.

"He will be alright, he was doing real well when we left." I encouraged, "Get some rest."

"Easier said than done." he muttered. "I suppose, however, you are right. He did seem fine when we left."

"I'm always right, I am a woman, after all." I smirked, though he couldn't see that in this dark unless he had night vision. "Goodnight, Arthur."

"Goodnight…?"

"Alessa."

"Right-e-oh. Goodnight, Alessa."

It took awhile for me to fall asleep, which perplexed me because I was so tired. Once I did fall asleep, I didn't dream. At all. Not even a little bit. Now that is odd for me.

I felt really warm, not like I wet myself, but like, I had a body pillow covered in a heated blanket. I slowly opened my eyes. All of that….with...America and England...was real? Well, if it isn't, how did I wake up in Arthur's arms in Alfred's guest room? I shook myself from my haze and assessed my situation.

His right arm was under my head. My right arm was draped over his bare waist. His left arm reached around my back, his hand resting on my left shoulder blade. My left arm laid underneath his waist. Our legs were tangled together - and no joke here - his eyebrows were terribly out of shape. I almost laughed.

His eyes fluttered open, slowly at first, then a jolt of realization pinned them open like toothpicks would. "Alessa?"

"Don't ask me, I woke up like this." I yawned. "Just for the record, your eyebrows are epic."

"Gee, thanks." he scoffed. He didn't move though, that surprised me slightly. I would have thought he'd have jumped out of bed by now. "We should see how America is doing." he untangled himself from me, not bothering to shirt himself when we walked out the door. I hopped out of bed as well and followed him in nothing but the oversized shirt of Alfred's I wore.

Arthur knocked twice before opening the door. Alfred was up, cleaning his mattress. "Oh hi you guys, sleep well?" he smiled a bit too much and a wiggle of his eyebrows told Arthur and me that he had looked in our room.

"Go to-" Arthur started, I interrupted him. "Jealous, Jones?"

"Can't say I'm not." he countered.

"I know what it is," I scoffed, "You want Arthur for yourself. Lover boy."

"WHAT?" Arthur yelled, looking frantic and angry.

"You mean you don't notice the looks? The body language? Dude, he totes wants da booty." I waved my hand at him, who was now blushing wildly. Alfred, after laughing, realized exactly what I said and blushed too. Both said it wasn't that way, but although I also knew, I wasn't going to let them off the hook easily.

"Anyway," Arthur glared at me, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good." Alfred responded, "A little sore still, but I've got a fire burning inside that won't stop until whoever did this is wiped from the face of the earth." he became dark, menacing. "I'll kill them personally."

"Whatever floats your goat, big guy." I said with a shrug. "Meantime, just take it easy, alright?"

"As much as I hate to agree, please do take things easy, America." Arthur sighed out, "I won't come over here again if you end up hurt again."

"Sure." I mumbled under my breath.

Arthur still caught wind of it, "Shut up."

Alfred laughed, "You two argue like a married couple."

"DO NOT!" we yelled in unison.

"I have urgent matters to attend to, so good day." Arthur announced before walking out of the room, leaving Alfred and I alone.

Al sat on the edge of his naked mattress, his t-shirt revealing bumps where stitches were. He took off his glasses and placed them on his nightstand and sighed. "This is really a screwed up mess."

"It'll work out, though."

"You seem to know a lot."

"Do I?"

"It hurts the most in my heart - the suffering….the pain….the loss...grief…" he respected head in his hands and cried, "I wish it would stop!"

I side hugged him gently, "Shh, you're okay."

"No, I'm not okay." he mumbled into his hands, "I'm not."

I noticed faint scars on his wrists, ones that couldn't be seen unless you were close and the lighting was right. I realised what he meant, then. "You need some more rest, go sleep in the guest room, I'll finish cleaning this mattress."

He looked up at me, tears streaming down his face, "I don't want to be alone."

"You're never alone, Alfred. You've got all your people, you've got England and France and Canada and everybody, they're all by your side. And although I just met you, you've got me, too." I wiped the tears from his face with the sleeve of my shirt, "Anything you want me to do, I'll do it for you. Okay?"

He stared at me for a moment, "Can I use you as a teddy bear?"

"A teddy bear?" I repeated. "Sure."

I didn't think he actually meant holding me like a teddy but when we got to the guest bedroom he grasped my hand and pulled me into bed with him. He wrapped his arms around me, snuggling his head into my neck. He was...spooning me? I felt myself blush.

After a moment he spoke in a mumble, "Arthur told me not to get attached to humans. That it only meant pain. I didn't believe him until one day I had made a human friend and he bullied me. I cried for hours and didn't talk to humans much after that. Except to order stuff like burgers and all."

"Sounds like that kid was a jerk." I replied after waiting a few seconds. "You're too sweet to be bullied." I gasped after I said that and covered my mouth, had I really just called him sweet?

"I like you." he whispered as he pulled me closer, "Maybe this is a mistake, but I'm willing to make it."

"Alfred," I grasped his hand, "Get some rest, okay?"

"Okay." he sighed.

Soon his breathing leveled out and he relaxed. He was asleep again. I gently pulled myself out of bed, being sure not to wake him, and went into his room. I started cleaning the mattress. It was a feat, but I did what I could. The white fabric would be stained pink for all of eternity, but I got all the blood out. I found some disinfectant spray in the bathroom and sprayed the mattress down. As I was about to put the bottle back I heard moving around, then Alfred cursing. "All humans are the same."

I knew I shouldn't have left him, but the bed wasn't cleaning itself. I put the bottle down on the nightstand and exited the room. Alfred was in the hallway, back facing me, forearm against the wall and hands in fists.

"Alfred," I said, "I'm not totally a jerk."

He turned quickly, his facial expression clearing showing he was hurt. "Really?" he said sarcastically.

"I wasn't tired, so I cleaned your bed for you." I smiled, "It is stained, but clean."

He dropped his arms and looked at the ground, "I thought you left."

"Why would I?"

"I dunno."

"Come here." I gestured to him to come over, then held my arms out. He walked over and practically fell into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him, telling him that it was alright. I understood that this was an emotional part in his life, a hard, painful, fearing one.

He pulled away, "I'm going to get dressed. I think I have something you could wear, somewhere. Come on." he grabbed my hand and led me into his room.

About five minutes later, he came out of his walk in closet with a t shirt and blue jeans. "Try these." he said. I nodded and went into the bathroom to change. The clothes, to my surprise, fit perfectly.

When I got out, Alfred was already in his usual bomber jacket and such. I smiled, he looked away, blushing, and rose his hand palm up. "Want to go get some burgers or something?" he asked.

I laughed, "I thought you'd never ask." I placed my hand in his and we walked hand in hand out of the building, the White House, and to the nearest McDavis restaurant.

Alfred ordered two BigMac's and two large sodas, I ordered some nuggets and fries, along with a large soda. We spoke over our meal, talking about our interests and such. Oddly, though, he never once asked my name. I never gave it to him, either. As the day went on, I made sure he took things easy, he made sure I didn't get lost. We ended up back at the White House laughing and holding hands again. Actually, I don't remember many times were we weren't holding hands.

"Today was nice." He said, taking a seat on the chair at his desk.

"We should do it again sometime." I smiled, leaning against a wall.

He smiled back, "Say, what's your name?"

Before I could reply, though, I started to disappear. "It's Ales-" I was cut off and when I reappeared, I was in a hospital with tubes coming out of me and monitors beeping. I tried to speak, but couldn't make out more than a low mumble. I moved my arm to the side of the bed, groping for the nurses button, however, I couldn't find it. I unplugged the heart monitor and within a minute every nurse on that floor, it seemed like, was in my room.

"She's awake!" One nurse cheered. Five others began doing random things to me. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, why was I here? Why couldn't I speak more than a mumble?

"Hello Miss Dearing, I'm your doctor." A man who just entered the room said. "You were in an accident, you suffered from a concussion and several broken bones."

I tried to ask what the accident was, but I wasn't able to say anything but a mumble.

"You were driving to work when a driver in the other lane, who was texting, hit you head on. You are lucky, Miss Dearing." He messed with some wires and such and scribbled in a notepad. "Your voice box was injured, making your voice is very hoarse. Please refrain from speaking, okay?"

I nodded and looked around, taking in everything. I had more questions -like what day it was, what hospital I was at- but those couldn't be answered yet. Perhaps the most urgent question I had, was if the whole fiasco with Alfred and Arthur happened, or if it was a dream. It seemed so easy to write it off as nothing more than a vivid dream of an unconscious otaku with a concussion, however I still held my doubts.

Soon, my family came in and doted over me significantly. No matter what though, my thoughts continually shifted over to Alfred. The look on his face when he saw me fading away. That, that is what makes me believe all of that was real. After an hour and a half or so, visiting time was over and my family left. When a nurse came in to check everything, I asked for a pen and some paper to write on. She complied and handed the objects to me. My hands were shaking, but I managed the best I could.

What day is it? I wrote.

"Tuesday, the 13th." the nurse answered.

Year?

"Twenty-eleven. You weren't asleep too long." she chuckled.

But to me, it had been ten years.

After a month I was released from the hospital. Almost fully healed, back on my feet (granted one leg was still in a cast and I had to go easy on a broken rib), and able to speak again. I was made to spend most of my time not doing anything, so I decided to rewatch all of Hetalia and even read a few fanfictions. I had nothing else to do. My friends came over and said hi a few times, but I knew they weren't really my friends...they just wanted to know if my situation meant I wasn't going to go with them to a concert as their driver. The whole thing infuriated me, so I told them I was no longer going. This perked my mother's interest, I was able to tell, yet she said nothing.

"Mom, I want to go to Washington DC and take the White House tour." I said in the best absent minded voice I could.

She looked up from the blanket she was crocheting. "That seems sudden."

"I've never been, and since the wreck...I don't know, life is really too precious not to be just a little sporadic and crazy at times." I closed my laptop. "I could benefit from a vacation, anyway."

"I'll see what I can do, sweetheart." she said, returning to her work. I stood up, painfully, and walked to the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?"

I stood outside the White House, eager to find Alfred. My chances were low, but if he was here, I could find him. I had to…

I didn't listen to the woman giving the tour. I just walked around with the group until I remembered a room. How, I wondered, could I dream a room I'd never seen? It was then that I decided, what had happened, it was real.

I split off from the group and made my way through the hallways. I acted as if I belonged, which, I hoped, would cause less suspicion. I was surprised that I remembered the way to the familiar hallway. The door to Alfred's room was open, quietly, I walked over and into the doorway. Alfred was working at his desk, the ceiling fan was giving off a steady fluuf fluuf that if I was quiet enough, would mask my footsteps. I tip-toed behind him, glad that the lighting didn't cast a shadow and give me away, and quickly wrapped my arms around him. He tensed up. "Sorry I took so long." I apologize.

"Alessa?" he relaxed. "I thought you were some sort of dream, but I asked Arthur about you and he told me your name and stuff...it made sense…"

"I thought it was a coma induced dream thing, myself. You see, I was in a car wreck and got a concussion. I would have come sooner...but...well...I was healing." I released him and he stood and turned, engulfing me in his arms as he did so.

"I missed you." he whispered into my ear, his warm lips brushing it's skin.

I dug my head into his shoulder, "I missed you, too."

"Ah for bloody sake, I'm gunna barf." Alfred and I turned to see Arthur leaning against the wall, arms crossed, and a passive look on his face. "Good to see you again, Alessa." he said, smiling. I smiled back, I would have hugged him to say hello, but Alfred was still holding me close. I settled for a "good to see you too".

After a while of talking to the two, Arthur left to attended to some business back home, leaving Alfred and I alone. I hugged him, "Hey Al..." I said into his chest, "I love you."

Alfred placed a hand gently on my cheek. He leaned in, raising my chin up lightly, and then he kissed me. "I love you too, Alessa." He whispered as he pulled away.


End file.
